Poked and prodded.

I've been a bit quiet here lately, having spent a week being poked and prodded and scanned and x-rayed, only to reach the conclusion that despite feeling very poorly indeed, there's apparently nothing wrong with me. Reassuring, but frustrating at the same time.

In between ultrasounds and blood tests and trips to the doctor, I have been making this:

It's Simplicity 4072, the same pattern as the cupcake dress, and this one's for Nicola.

The cupcake dress is in fact for sale, if anyone's interested? It's a size too big for me, and is sadly not very flattering to my figure shape. It needs to go to someone with a more generous cleavage than mine!

Overbust measurement will fit up to 38", underbust/empire waist measurement is also 38", but this pulls in at the back with the ties. The dress has been worn and washed once. £45.

Simplicity 4072 - the cupcake duro!

Finally, I have finished making Simplicity 4072! I've been working on this all week, and it took far longer to put together than I'd anticipated. I'm feeling thoroughly grumpy about this dress at the moment. It feels like a bit of a Monet - from a distance it looks great, but close up it all goes a but fuzzy. Every time I look at it, I see something that I could have done better.

I'm hoping it'll redemm itself when I actually put it on - although that neckline seems awfully low! I might find myself digging out the leftovers, to make a cupcake-print modesty panel.

The cupcake print is a Rowan quilting cotton, also available in other colourways from eQuilter. The plain pink is the Bishopston organic cotton, in Raspberry. It couldn't be a more perfect match for the pink of the cakes!

I do like the look of this dress very much. I bought the pattern a long time ago, inspired by Erin's Darth Vader dress, but I didn't find the perfect fabric combination until I put these two together.

I did find it quite difficult to make though, which surprised me. There are no sleeves to set in, there's no zip... but there is a lot of "pivot at small dot" and "clip to curve", and the neckband was an absolute so-and-so to put on neatly. You're sewing a convex curve to a concave one at the back of the neck, and I had to check at least three times that I was definitely sewing it all together the right way round!

If it stops raining over the Bank Holiday, I'll ask Paul to take some photos of me cavorting about in my new dress. If it looks good on, I have the perfect fabric for at least two more...

Star Wars Skirt!

This one's a commission for Madamequeeny - she saw the fabric on the website, and couldn't resist!

The print goes in all directions so it's inevitable that something's going to be upside down. I decided it was probably safest to make sure that Darth Vader was the right way up though!

Here is also a sneaky peek at one of the next projects I'm going to be making for myself. The Bambi duvet cover arrived this morning, and the printed front is backed with plain brown cotton. That makes it perfect for this dress with contrasting trim, I think.

Erin would be proud.